Monday, December 14, 2009

Stephen Usery interviews Tennessee native Madison Smartt Bell about his first novel in five years, Devil's Dream. Devil's Dream is fevered telling of twenty years in the life of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. We also talk about the appropriateness of Confederate memorials and his return to writing fiction.

Stephen Usery interviews Joseph Kanon about his newest period mystery novel, Stardust, which is set in Hollywood right after the end of World War II. (Joseph was Stephen's very first Book Talk interview back in 2002.)

Friday, October 16, 2009

Congratulations to Book Talk guest and Nashville resident Lydia Peelle for being named to the National Book Foundation's 2009 5 Under 35 program. Past Book Talk guests who have been honored are Fiona Maazel (2008) and ZZ Packer (2006).

Stephen Usery interviews Robert Hicks about his latest novel A Separate Countrywhich follows the life of Confederate General John Bell Hood through his astonishing life after the Civil War in New Orleans.Download the podcast today!

British writer Simon Van Booy has won the 2009 Frank O'Connor Award for his second collection of short stories Love Begins in Winter. The O'Connor is the most lucrative short story prize in the world, worth 35,000 Euros. Previous winners include Haruki Murakami and Jumpa Lahiri. This is quite an honor, and Book Talk congratulates Simon and thanks him again for sharing Love Begins in Winter with us earlier this year. You can download his interview with Stephen Usery below.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Bill Wilson talks to guest Clay Travis about On Rocky Top,his investigation of the calamitous 2008 season for the Tennessee Volunteers football team that lead to the firing of Coach Phillip Fulmer. This podcast boasts an extra ten minutes of conversation looking at the prospects for the team under new head coach Lane Kiffin.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Stephen Usery interviews David O. Stewart about his book Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy. It's a fascinating look into the event that presaged the squandered hope of Reconstruction following the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Download the podcast today!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Host Carolyn Gibson talks to Gin Phillips about her debut novel The Well and the Mine, which looks at the complicated familial and racial relationships in the coal mining area of northern Alabama in the 1930s.

In this podcast, Stephen Usery interviews Attica Locke about her debut novel, Black Water Rising, which is set in Houston, Texas's oil boom in the early 1980s as the legacy of racism and corporate greed come to a head.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Stephen Usery interviews Sam Haskell about his book, Promises I Made My Mother. It's a memoir that tracks the moral grounding Haskell's mother gave him and how it helped in his personal life and his career as the head of television for the legendary William Morris talent agency. Download the podcast today!

Stephen Usery interviews Edgar Award-winning author John Hart about his latest thriller, The Last Child, in which a teenage boy searches for his sister a year after her abduction. Download the podcast today!

Stephen Usery interviews Karen Essex about her latest historical novel, Stealing Athenawhich looks at women involved in the creation of the Parthenon and the British removal of many statues from there in the early 19th century.

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